Back to back maternity not been paid holidays and been told to re apply for job interview next week!!!!

[Unsurechicken]

Hello clever people!

I need some advice really. I have looked on acas and gov.com but it's not the same senario as mine.

Full time contract.
Started November 13
Went sick pregnancy related December 13
Mat leave started July 14
Second mat leave started early June 15
Attempting to go back to work march 16

The comp any haven't paid me maternity leave nor smp or government maternity pay when I was sick I got ESA and it continued until September 15 since then I worked pt for a different company.

I'm under the impression that my real job owe me the holiday pay from November 13 to current?

They have also rejected my request for flexible working or part time hours.
They have told me I can come back but I'm on probation for 16 weeks is that legal?!

The are saying its 21 days holiday which runs 1/1 -31/12 nothing about bank holidays but say there are 7 a year. I think I'm entitled to
1.5 days for 2013
28 days for 2014
28 days for 2015
3 days for 2016
So 60.5 days?

How would I word the letter and should I do it before I start again in March?

Please shout at me if I'm wrong because it's already causing friction that I want to go back to work clearly and I don't want to go all official letters when I'm wrong!!!

[Alisvolatpropiis]

Ah I see redhat, thanks. I was double checking my understanding of the holiday payment was correct because it's applicable to me (I'm not returning when my mat leave ends).

[redhat]

Yes you can have the leave (eligibility for which is dependent on length of service) but the entitlement to SMP would be affected since this depends on your earnings in a particular period prior to the pregnancy. The OP wasn't earning anything because at this crucial time she was on mat leave 1 and at that stage hadn't been working long enough to have qualified for SMP for mat leave 1.

So two lots of mat leave but no SMP (or maternity allowance, hence the ESA).

[Floggingmolly]

Can you really have two lots of Maternity Leave when you haven't actually returned to work in between??

[redhat]

If the OP leaves she would be entitled to payment in lieu of the leave. But if she stays she is only entitled to take the leave (the leave would be paid at full pay rate). The fact that the OP has hardly been there is irrelevant since leave accrued during mat leave can be carried over to be taken at the end of the mat leave period.

As I said earlier, the leave which accrued before the start of the first mat leave is likely to have been lost. The latest case law limits the amount of time for which you can carry over leave. This doesn't apply to mat leave periods though.

[Alisvolatpropiis]

Everything redhat said.

If the op leaves, would the company then have to pay her for the accrued leave not taken as a lump sum?

[iMatter]

Sorry - I don't think I've understood correctly.

While you were on sick leave with one job you did some bar work?

You've hardly been at work since you joined. I'm afraid to say I'd be looking for another job.

[Floggingmolly]

Yes, surely being on sick leave from one company whilst simultaneously working in another one (and merrily accruing holiday entitlement from the first for doing bugger all!) is grounds for dismissal?

[StealthPolarBear]

You have worked part time for a different some any since September? 3 months into your maternity leave? So have you ever been in to your current employer's place of work?

[Floggingmolly]

A paid leave entitlement when you've only actually worked for 30 days in total (over a period of two years!) is a bit of a surreal concept...

[littledrummergirl]

I've been a union rep and I think your chancing your arm. You need to go back to work and work your ass off proving your a valuable asset. I think any opportunity to get rid will be taken otherwise.

[Thunderbumsmum]

But redhat isn't the leave entitlement paid?

[CountryLovingGirl]

I reckon that this employer is pretty peed with you. My manager would have a field day with this.

[Choughed]

Redhat said everything I tried to say but 1,000 times better!

[redhat]

Your entitlement to leave is more like 47ish days. But again your only entitlement is to take the holiday not be paid in lieu. As a result it isn't going to pay off your debts. You'll just be off work for longer. In your position I'd bring your mat leave to an end if possible and take the holiday now so that you can get back to work in March/April but at least you'll be paid for the next couple of months.

My 6th para in previous post should have said "entitled to second mat pay"

[redhat]

I'm an employment lawyer

I can see why you're not their favourite employee quite frankly.

But anyway...

No entitlement to SSP for sickness since you won't have earned enough (unless the job is high paying). No employment law issues.

No entitlement to smp for first mat leave due to length of service. SMA only. You claim that directly not via your employer. It was your responsibility to sort it out if you were eligible. The fact that you were given ESA instead indicates you weren't eligible because you hadn't worked enough before commencing this job. No employment law issues

Entitled to second mat leave subject to earning enough which you wouldn't have - so SMA only. You claim that directly not via your employer. It was your responsibility to sort it out. Again it looks like you were not eligible and so got ESA. No employment law issues

Annual leave will have accrued but you cannot take annual leave an mat leave at the same time therefore they couldn't pay you whilst you were on mat leave. You can't take payment in lieu of the leave but you can take the leave. So they do not owe you the pay but potentially owe you leave. If you were full time working five days a week then yes in theory you would be entitled to 28 days each year (pro rated for the part years). You are likely to have lost the leave for the sickness period since that can't be carried over indefinitely.

They can reject your application for flexible working on the basis of business need (there are about 8 categories which will potentially allow them to do this). They can put an employee on probation at any time since it isn't a legally defined term. It simply means they will be monitoring your performance (which is not surprising since you barely worked for them and went off sick during your first probationary period). If at the end of the "probation" they felt you were not performing they would have to take you through a performance management process to dismiss you since you have two years' service now.

[Ellypoo]

Some really bad advice/'facts' here.

1. You should have been paid SSP when you were off sick, not ESA.
2. You are entitled to 52 weeks mat leave irrespective of when your employment started.
3. You have to have been employed for at least 26 weeks by the 15th week before your EDD (basically you need to have been employed before you get pg).
4. If you don't qualify for SMP then you can apply for MA (but your employer should reply to your official notification of your pg which you sent with your MatB1 to advise you why you aren't eligible for SMP & return your Matb1).
5. You then need to apply for MA. You probably wouldn't have qualified for SMP because of being on SSP during the qualifying period 1st time, and MA second time.
6. You should still accrue holiday during your mat leave.

7.employers don't have to approve flexible working applications.

[Palomb]

Nightmare for your employer really!

[LIZS]

Were you on probation initially, which you then didn't complete due to illness and therefore hadn't yet qualified for ssp etc. Presumably you were pg with dc1 before you were employed therefore you wouldn't get Smp, by dc2 you had no earnings in the qualifying period and didn't meet the threshold for Smp or ma. I thought you were required to use any accrued holiday within a time scale (most would add on to ml , in your case between them) . Are they saying you weren't entitled to any or that you must take it as time off?

[Thunderbumsmum]

She was still employed during the period she was off sick, molly

[Artandco]

Most jobs have a 3 month break clause at the beginning where all entitlement is invalid or no maternity/ sick pay/ holiday pay in the first 12 weeks.

I can't see how any company would have this as a policy where someone can work 4 weeks, then be paid 2 years Maternity and 60+ days holiday pay!
Most won't have maternity straight after another for starters, you have to go back in between. So if second baby due exactly 9 months after first you need to take just 6 months max off. Most only pay x amount of weeks then 9 months is the max on government maternity so with July finish you would have been back latest in April.

[Floggingmolly]

How, Thunder? Don't you have to have been employed for at least 13 weeks to qualify?

[Floggingmolly]

You worked for the company for a single month between two lots of maternity leave / illness? That can't possibly be right, can it?
And you think you have accrued two years work of holiday entitlement in the back of this, despite the fact that during your illness you actually worked elsewhere

[Thunderbumsmum]

You do qualify for holiday pay, this accrues through mat leave and through time off for sickness. I think it is 28 days per year unless you are contractually entitled to more, in which case the larger amount will apply for the period of time off sick and the first 6 months of mat leave, after which it is back to the 28 days, pro rated. It is held over until you return from mat leave or I think you can have the money instead for the years you did not take the paid holiday.

I expect your employer will be very keen to get rid of you after you have inconvenienced them so much, are you sure you want to go in all heavy?